14 Then out it speaks the fourth o them,
Mair fair and lovely is his buke:
'Our sister dear we cannot blame,
Altho in him she pleasure took.'
15 Then out it speaks the fifth o them,
'It were a sin to do them ill;'
Then out it spake the sixth o them,
'It's hard a sleeping man to kill.'
16 But out it speaks the seventh o them,
I wish an ill death mat he dee!
'I wear the sharp brand by my side
That soon shall gar Clerk Sandy die.'
17 Then he's taen out his trusty brand,
And he has stroakd it ower a strae;
And thro and thro Clerk Sandy's middle
I wat he's gart it come and gae.
18 The lady slept by her love's side
Until the dawning o the day,
But what was dune she naething knew,
For when she wak'd these words did say:
19 'Awake, awake, now Clerk Sandy,
Awake, and turn you unto me;
Ye're nae sae keen's ye were at night,
When you and I met on the lee.'
20 O then she calld her chamber-maid
To bring her coal and candle seen:
'I fear Clerk Sandy's dead eneuch,
I had a living man yestreen.'
21 They hae lifted his body up,
They hae searched it round and round,
And even anent his bonny heart
Discovered the deadly wound.
22 She wrung her hands, and tore her hair,
And wrung her hands most bitterlie:
'This is my fause brothers, I fear,
This night hae used this crueltie.
23 'But I will do for my love's sake
Woud nae be done by ladies rare;
For seven years shall hae an end
Or eer a kame gang in my hair.